49ers-Steelers summit brings NFL dynasties to mind

Somehow, the images from the 1970s still seem fresh: Terry Bradshaw flinging long passes, Lynn Swann leaping high to make acrobatic catches, Franco Harris plowing forward for important yards.

Then again, so do other images from the ’80s and ’90s: Joe Montana and Steve Young spinning their magic, Jerry Rice running after the catch, Ronnie Lott patrolling the secondary.

Yes, the 49ers and Steelers bring more than a touch of tradition to Monday night’s game.

These two franchises own 11 Super Bowl titles between them, six for the Steelers and five for the 49ers (only the Cowboys, also with five, hang in the same neighborhood). They have produced many of the NFL’s enduring stars, from the Hall-of-Fame players mentioned above to Hall-of-Fame coaches Bill Walsh and Chuck Noll.

So it seems fitting for them to collide on a Monday night in December – with both teams at 10-3 and playoff implications flowing.

The Steelers are tussling with Baltimore atop the AFC North. The 49ers, already division champs, now seek to hold off New Orleans for the all-important No. 2 seed in the NFC.

This makes for potentially great prime-time theater. ESPN plans to seize on the history, opening its telecast with a montage highlighting the tradition and resurgence of the 49ers – complete with fresh video of Montana shot Tuesday in San Francisco.

Jon Gruden, the coach-turned-analyst, understands the story lines run deeper than Alex Smith and Ben Roethlisberger.

“These are two global franchises,” Gruden said on a conference call this week. “Both of these teams should be playing this time of year in a big game. It’s going to be a chilling experience, I think, for a lot of 49ers and certainly Steelers fans.

“Ten-and-3 going head-to-head against each other – it’s going to be great.”

San Francisco defensive coordinator Vic Fangio knows all about the Steelers’ rich history. Fangio grew up in Pennsylvania (albeit on the other side of the state) and, as a New Orleans assistant in the mid-1980s, coached against Noll’s Pittsburgh teams (his last season was 1991).

There’s a thread connecting those Steelers to the 21st-century editions – starting with a stout defense and stubborn running game.

“They’ve always been a tough, physical team,” Fangio said Friday. “They try to mirror the mentality of the city.”

Some numbers worth contemplating: This game will mark only the fourth time two teams with 10 or more victories and a winning percentage of .750 or higher play on the grand Monday night stage. The 49ers won all three previous such games, beating the Bears in 1987, the Giants in ’90 and the Broncos in ’97.

No wonder anticipation runs high for the impending clash at Candlestick.

“It really seems like a distant memory, those Super Bowl championships won by Walsh and Montana and then Seifert and Young and that group of 49ers,” ESPN play-by-play man Mike Tirico said. “It truly is a generation ago. I’ve got an 11-year-old and I told him, ‘The 49ers, they were it for a long time.’ And he kind of looked at me like ‘Really? When was that?’

“So for a new generation of fans this is a great opportunity to remind ourselves of one of the great trophy cases, one of the great legacies of the NFL.”

Briefly: Linebacker Patrick Willis (hamstring) and left tackle Joe Staley (concussion) missed practice for the second consecutive day. During the portion of practice open to the media, both players worked out on an adjacent field under the supervision of strength and conditioning coach Mark Uyeyama. … The league fined linebacker Larry Grant $15,000 for a roughing-the-passer penalty Sunday against Arizona.